A Spartan's Rebirth
by Zarkun
Summary: Fourth Generation Spartan Lucas Ryker is the Spartan without a team, preferring to shirk his fellow Spartans because they'd only "slow him down." However, when he's forced into cryo sleep during a mission to find the missing Master Chief due to extensive damage to the ship's life support, he'll wake up to a galaxy changed and realize working solo won't work this time.
1. Prologue

Prologue

All across the ship alarms blared, with crew and soldiers alike scrambling for the cryopods as the klaxons sang out, the shipboard AI warning about multiple hull breaches across multiple decks. A surprise meteor storm had caught UNSC frigate _Idaho_ unawares and had torn holes through it's hull without remorse, damaging many of the key systems, including the life support and slip space jump drive. In response, the ship's captain, with his dying breath as most of the bridge crew had been killed in the storm, told all hands to report for cryo and hope for rescue. Little else could be done with the slip space drive so damaged and the result of the announcement had been chaos.

Amongst all the chaos, a lone SPARTAN-IV was already reporting to cryopods, having received special orders directly from the captain shortly before his ship-wide announcement. "Spartan Ryker, if no one else makes it out of this alive, you need to. The Master Chief must be found and the only other person to know what our mission was is you." Spartan Lucas Ryker steamed as he waited for the OK to climb into his pod. Standing to the side during a time of crisis was something his old captain in the ODST had done or a scared child did. Not a SPARTAN, and sure as hell not the Lone Wolf. Ryker had a habit of getting up in the middle of things and getting them done. But now, he had no choice.

Hearing his name, he took a step towards the pod, already removing his M395B DMR from his back, when another impact, this much heavier than those caused by the meteors, shook the ship. His radio crackled to life as the defensive gunners came through. "Son of a BITCH! It's a Brute raiding party, I repeat, it's a Brute raiding party! All military personnel not yet in their pods report to the airlock to repel, they're moving to board! I say again, move to repel boarders!"

The radio fell silent again, but the sound of the anti-ship guns could be heard all the same and already Lucas was moving to exit the room. The ODST captain caught his shoulder as he reached the door. "You're flagged VIP for the cryos, Spartan. I can't rightly let you leave this room." The polarized sunspot visor of the pathfinder helmet turned towards the captain, the brown eyes behind it appraising the man.

"With all due respect, Captain Volosky, I still have a job to do before I go into cryo. If those brutes manage to breach the pods, then it will have been a waste of time to get into one." The ODST didn't let go and after a moment's silence, didn't relent.

"Spartan, I'm going to count to three and you're going to turn around and get in your pod. You have mission critical information and you're going to be carrying the shipboard AI. Can't risk it falling into enemy hands." This caused Ryker to bring his whole body around to face Volosky and utter a single word.

"What?!"

"Veronica requested specifically that she be placed with you until you come out of cryo. I don't know why and I don't care. Her AI core's already on it's way here and once we have it, you **are** getting into a pod." Well shit. Lucas knew that at that point, arguing with the ODST captain was a moot point and resigned himself to waiting, once more removing his DMR from its place on his back and actually setting it on the weapons rack to his pod's immediate left. He kept his M6H2 tactical magnum with him, knowing it was better to wake up with a handgun than nothing.

Another impact rocked the ship and several more marines and ODST ran by, heading for another section of the ship as Veronica's voice came on through the radios this time. "This is UNSC AI 44857, but you can call me Veronica. That impact was a Brute boarding pod, but we are fortunate it was the ONLY boarding pod. The rest of the raiding party is in full retreat thanks to our fine gunners." This was greeted with cheers and hoots across the ship, everyone sure they were in the clear until the AI cleared her throat. "And now the bad news. I've finished my diagnostics and the ship's life support was damaged far worse than I had thought initially. Decks four through ten have already gone silent and I've sealed them off in an attempt to buy us more time. But, most of you won't make it. I estimate three days for the skeleton crew we'll need to keep sending out an SOS for the UNSC to find. Those who are to stay out of cryo have already received their orders. Everyone else, report to cryo as the late Captain ordered."

Suddenly the cryopod room became a flurry of activity with a layer of somberness, as people were rushed to their pods in an effort to buy the assigned skeleton crew more time than four days. Lucas could stand in stunned silence at first as the deck moved in a blur around him. _Decks four through ten...so many people…_ And the pods weren't even half full on this level, which begged the question as he stepped into his own. _What if everyone isn't in their pods in time?_

Before he could finish, Captain Volosky tapped his shoulder, holding a small chip. "This is your passenger. She'll integrate with your armor systems and help monitor you through cryo." Lucas nodded and took the chip, inserting it in the back of his helmet in the slot designed for it. After a moment, Veronica's youthful face appeared in a small window in the top right corner of his HUD.

"Well Spartan Ryker, seems we're going to be bunking together. No peeking, OK?" With a giggle that reminded the Spartan of a flirtatious young woman, the window disappeared and he approached his pod. Turning back to the ODST captain, he saluted.

"See you on the other side, Captain." The captain returned it.

"Sleep tight, Spartan." Climbing into the large mechanical sleeping tube, the last thing Ryker remembered before the pod's effects kicked in was the Captain's face as he turned to leave the room.


	2. Chapter 1: Relic from Another Time

**To all of you who kept waiting for this to come out, I apologize for the delay. Some unexpected hurdles popped up between life and a coffee spill on my other computer. But, I finally got this done and now it's ready for you to read. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: Relic of another Time

Tulcia Callus, commanding officer aboard the Turian exploration ship _Digeris_ , stood on her command platform near the rear of the bridge, sipping at a cup of dextro-coffee as she observed her crew going about their duties. After the relay to this sector of the galaxy had been opened with permission from the Council under the condition that the Hierarchy would secure the other side. The memory caused Tulcia to sigh in a small amount of regret. She had supported the Hierarchy's push for more relays to be opened up for colonization and exploration, which the Turian Councilor had supported, as had, eventually, the Asari.

The Salarian Councilor had been harder to convince, remaining very convinced that after the Rachni Wars, there was more than enough reason to keep all unexplored mass relays unopened. But after some well done word play by the Asari and Turian Councilors, the Salarians agreed. Unfortunately, that agreement had come at the condition, suggested by the Salarians and supported by the Asari, that Turian forces clear the other side of each relay first. The sector the _Digeris_ was in now was a part of what had been dubbed the Scorpio Cluster, located beyond an unexplored relay in the Hades Gamma quadrant. Records obtained from Humanity and the Sangheili showed that, during their Human-Covenant War, several regions that the Council races had yet to investigate because of the relay shut down had been explored via slipspace jumping, though many of the old maps could be argued to be out of date. The majority of the important areas marked on them had either been of strategic value at the expense of no way to colonize them or potentially colonies with wild life that could put the Thresher Maws of Tuchanka to shame.

As she read through the latest reports from a flight of fighters that had acted as scouts, a beeping at the navigation console caught her attention. "Helmsman Gradas, report." The Turian in charge of navigation and piloting the small cruiser, a Turian male with red markings indicating he was from Palavan, worked furiously to identify the source of the ping.

"Still trying to pin it down, but it seems the sensors have picked up a large metal object in a nearby asteroid field." Immediately following the end of the Helmsman's report, the communication's officer spoke up.

"Captain, I think it's a ship. I'm not familiar with the encryption, but there's a distress call of some kind coming from it."

"Hmmmm…" Tulcia considered it for a moment. An unidentified ship floating in a field of asteroids in a previously unexplored region of space felt...wrong to the Captain. Still, the Scorpio Cluster was near Earth and the Alliance, and the extra military might could come in handy in case this was a trap of some kind. "Contact the Alliance. After they send backup in case this is some kind of trap, we'll investigate." The communication's officer nods an affirmative and sets up a communication between the Captain and the Alliance Fifth Fleet. After a moment, a familiar human face, that of Admiral Hackett of the Alliance Fifth Fleet, appeared in front of the Captain. "Admiral Hackett."

Hackett didn't reply right away, instead reviewing the data that the communication's officer of the _Digeris_ had sent him first. "Captain Tulcia. It would seem you are in need of some assistance considering the readouts on this data. I recognize the encryption code samples you've sent ahead, so feel free to begin exploration the ship." Tulcia afforded herself a small sigh of relief at the news. Since the hunk of metal had first been discovered, the crew had been on high alert, watching for any indication of a pirate ambush. However, she wasn't about to send anyone aboard an old ship without more information, especially since Hackett recognized the encryption, so she tentatively pushed forwards.

"I appreciate the information and permission, Admiral. But, with respect, I have to ask if I can have more information on what I'm leading the boarding team into. Is the encryption key a top secret project of your government's? Or some kind of abandoned super weapon from when you were at war with the Covenant?" Hackett chuckled, shaking his head as he finished reading something to the side.

"Oh no Captain, nothing like that, though it is an old military ship. According to the SOS message it's broadcasting, you've stumbled across the UNSC _Idaho_. The ship went missing in that sector of space on a classified mission, the nature of which was never declassified by ONI." Tulcia's face contorted into a frown at the mention of the human Office of Naval Intelligence. During the brief war between the Turians and the UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios, ONI had been responsible for the coordination of several surgical strikes that had crippled several of the operations the Turian Hierarchy had determined would quickly pacify the Humans and their allies. Returning to the present, Tulcia spoke to the Admiral.

"Will we be waiting on ONI to join us then? I'm sure you're familiar with the...problems between my people and those snakes." The admiral chuckled lightly as he continued reading over the data, not responding immediately, but soon enough that Tulcia wouldn't begin to think they were.

"Even if ONI wanted us to wait, I'm already enroute with the Fifth Fleet. They'll just have to play catch-up." This brought a smile to the Turian's face as she nodded. It was easy to forget that most of the Alliance didn't particularly care for ONI's constant secrecy and manipulation of people, especially their own people. "We'll be arriving in about an hour, Captain. See you then." With a nod, Tulcia gives her own fair well and signals the communications officer to close the channel.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose with a sigh, she signals for a ship wide channel to be opened before beginning to speak. "Attention all crew members. We will be docking with the priorly unidentified floating object we've come across. The Alliance's Admiral Hackett was kind enough to identify the ship as the UNSC _Idaho_ and has given us permission to begin searching it for anything recoverable. You all know the drill by now. Boarding party, be ready in ten. Tulcia out." Turning from the command deck, she relinquishes command of the bridge to her second and then heads for the armory for her own equipment.

Ten minutes later, the boarding team, a group of ten, stood in the airlock after the _Digeris_ had finished docking with one of the vehicle bays, each member wielding either a Phaeston rifle or an AT-12 Raider shotgun. It was a standard loadout for clearing the closed corridors and rooms of a ship, with one member of the team packing a Mantis sniper rifle in case they came across a chamber that was too large for assault rifles alone to provide ample firepower, along with a variety of heavy pistols each personally picked by the team members. Captain Tulcia preferred the Executioner pistol herself, which she had customised with a short range scope and an extended mag to allow for a couple of extra shots when she needed it.

Once she received the all clear to board from Helmsman Gradas, she opened the airlock doors to the vehicle bay. A number of old UNSC vehicles sat in the bay, ranging from a four wheeled vehicle with a variety of turrets from some kind of minigun turret to a gauss turret on the back, if it was armed at all, to a large tank that fired a rather large caliber of shell, though Tulcia couldn't place the size from just a quick glance. One of the turian marines whistled. "Man, it might be outdated tech, but humans sure knew how to bring the pain even back in their slipspace years."

Tulcia rolled her eyes and kept her eyes alert. While she was in agreement that it wouldn't be fun to be on the receiving end of any of the vehicle based weaponry in here, they could leave it for the Alliance's Fifth Fleet to retrieve. "Come on, ladies, let's focus on clearing the ship. You can gawk at the archaic death dealers after." The marine who'd spoken up immediately snapped back to his firing arc and didn't speak again. The silence persisted as the moved into the halls and down towards the elevators, clearing each room thoroughly; not that there was much need for it. They were all either empty or had nothing more than skeletons in them, which almost made for the beginning of a horror vid. Upon reaching the elevators, they pried open the doors and shone their flashlights up the shaft. It was clear that the power had been manually shut off after the elevators themselves were both below the level of the vehicle bay, which brought a frown to the Captain's face. Who would do that and why?

"Alright, I'm taking two with me up to the next level to begin clearing it. Quintus, take three with you to clear the level above that. Decius, take your fire team and secure the bridge. See if maybe we can get the power going again." With affirmations given, the group activated the boosters attached to their armor and ascending to the appropriate floors, though Decius' team would have to play a game of 'Guess which floor the Bridge is on', but it wouldn't be the first time the crew of the _Digeris_ cleared an abandoned ship.

For most of the floor, the procedure was the same, open the door, clear the room, sometimes rooms, on the other side, repeat. It was about the middle of the long hallway that there was a change. It was faint at first, easily dismissible as the machinery within the armor suits and helmets the Turians were wearing. But as they got nearer to its source, they realized that it was the sound of something being powered. The door was quickly identified as the entrance to a cryosuspension room, but Tulcia couldn't figure out why this one was powered. "Captain," spoke one of the marines with her, Renimus, "why is this room receiving power? The last cryosuspension room was, well, dead."

Tulcia shrugged as she hit the button to open the door, her rifle up as Renimus and the other marine readied their own weapons. "Couldn't say, but only one way to find out." As the door slid to the side with a his, the Turians moved in quickly, weapons sweeping all seeable corners and walkways. Once it was confirmed clear, the trio approached the source of the noise, a lone cryopod with the faint light of activity coming from the nearby console. Renimus moved to the console while Tulcia and the third member of the fireteam, a female by the name of Caria, looked at the cryopod itself.

Renimus began to read through the data displayed as the Captain began rubbing away the fog that had built up on the glass. "I can't seem to find anything that identifies who's in this pod other than they were a soldier and they were marked as a VIP with mission critical information. Their vitals seem steady, but...they've been in there a long time, far longer than these pods were supposed to be designed to last for." Tulcia didn't respond right away, because as she got the last of the fog build up wiped away, the sunspot visor of a SPARTAN-IV stared back at her and made her stumble back in surprise. She'd heard stories about them, stories passed down by the Sangheili and the Unggoy, of armored Humans who singlehandedly turned the tides of entire battles, who would go toe-to-toe with Sangheili warriors and Jiralhanae and come out on top. They had been called Demons by the Covenant, but to Humanity? They were known as the Spartans. With a sudden urge to be clean of the whole situation, she rounded on Renimus.

"Get me back on the line with Hackett. NOW. And send out word to the rest of the team, once the Alliance is here, we're done with this ship."


End file.
